Summary
The Royal Commission for Onomastics and Dialectology performs its scientific task under the high patronage of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten and the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. It is the scientific aim of the Academy to study the onomastics (toponymy and anthroponymy) and the dialectology, especially in Belgium in both Germanic and Romance areas. The Commission therefore brings out scientific studies (Bulletin, Publications) about these disciplines. The Commission is also an advisory body; the government can always ask for its scientific advice.
Meetings
The statutory meetings took place in the Palais des Académies – Paleis der Academiën in Brussels (Hertogstraat 1, rue Ducale) on 6 February, 21 May, and 29 October 2012. There were six section meetings (each time two of them on 6 February, 21 May, and 29 October 2012), one plenary meeting was held on 6 February, and two meetings of the board took place on 21 May, and 29 October 2012.
On addition a extraordinary board meeting was held on 24 August 2012.
Lectures held at the plenary meeting
Bram VAN NIEUWENHUYZE & Andy RAMANDT, Kompastoponymie en oriëntatiegevoel in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden tijdens het Ancien Régime – Toponymes cardinaux et orientation dans l’espace dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux avant 1800
Lectures in the Flemish section
Victor MENNEN, Vreemde eenden in de Lommelse naamkundige bijt? Over landschap en historisch verleden in de spiegel van de microtoponymie< br />
Willy VAN LANGENDONCK, Motivaties bij volwassenenbijnamen vs. jongerenbijnamen voor Vlaamse leerkrachten
Paul KEMPENEERS, Toponymie van Attenhoven
Jan GOOSSENS, Het dialectologisch werk van René Jongen
Lectures in the Walloon section
Jean GERMAIN, Le loup dans la toponymie wallonne : mythe et réalité
Jérémie DELORME, L’édition des sources toponymiques de la Belgique romane (1re phase : la province de Liège). Un état des travaux en cours
Jean GERMAIN, L’évolution orthographique du nom des communes de Wallonie depuis 1795
Website
The Commission has its own regularly updated website that documents the Commission’s scientific and advisory proceedings as well as the individual scientific activities, publications and international contacts of its members.
External editorial board of peer reviewers
The members of the Royal Commission for Onomastics and Dialectology have decided to establish a new editorial board for the periodical of the organisation (Handelingen / Bulletin). This editorial board will consist of both the Commission’s members and the following eleven international experts, drawn from the various branches of science that are represented in the publications of the commission: Eva BUCHI, Jean-Pierre CHAMBON, Georg CORNELISSEN, A.C.M. GOEMAN, Ludger KREMER, Wulf MÜLLER, Bertie NEETHLING, Hermann NIEBAUM, Damaris NÜBLING, Jean-Louis VAXELAIRE en Stefan ZIMMER.
The members of the Commission and its external editorial board will jointly guarantee the international quality and safeguard the outstanding scientific content of the journal.
External Activities and Publications
The Bulletin LXXXIV (2012) counts 270 pages. It was exchanged for a number of periodicals and with scientific institutions. The publications acquired by purchase or exchange were stored in the library, which is located in the library of the Palais des Académies – Paleis der Academiën in Brussels (Hertogstraat 1, rue Ducale). 30 copies are placed at the disposal of researchers and students at the scientific centres of the Belgian universities.
On the occasion of the publication of the tenth part of the Atlas linguistique de la Wallonie, Esther Baiwir reviews nine decades of research into the topic in two articles about the ALW (see current Bulletin, p.43:107). Her contributions have been united as number 11of the series Tirés à part of the Walloon division (Esther BAIWIR, L’Atlas linguistique de la Wallonie à mi-parcours. État des lieux et perspectives & Index onomasiologique).
In addition to providing a general overview and a selective bibliography, the researcher paints a picture of the inception and the growth of the ALW project before offering her perspectives on its future. The second part contains an index of all concepts that have already been published or will be dealt with in the next ten editions.
With regard to street names the Commission was consulted by numerous Belgian local authorities in 2011. The Commission further continued the linguistic adaptation of the geographical names of the ordnance survey maps published by the Nationaal Geografisch Instituut – Institut National Géographique.
The Royal Commission for Onomastics and Dialectology has been represented by his members on several international scientific meetings in Austria, Belgium, The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Lesotho, The Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland.